Lewiston Art Festival: GIHS as good as gold in winning Chalk Walk

Fri, Aug 19th 2016 07:00 pm

From left, Julie Klein, Lovepreet Kaur and Lex Hy of Grand Island received the blue ribbon for best chalk mural in the Chalk Walk competition Saturday at the Lewiston Art Festival. (Photo by K&D Action Photo and Aerial Imaging)

By Larry Austin

Dispatch Editor

For the second year in a row and third time in four
years, Grand Island High School artists won the annual Chalk Walk competition
at the annual Lewiston Art Festival.

Lovepreet Kaur, Lex Hy and Julie Klein took home the
blue ribbon among 10 teams in the event Saturday, which features three-artist
teams drawing a chalk mural on the road in the Village of Lewiston. Judges
awarded a second-place red ribbon and third-place white ribbons to teams from
Lewiston-Porter. Mount St. Mary Academy won the President's Award, while Sweet
Home won the People's Choice Award, voted on by patrons of the two-day
festival.

Klein, a rising senior, called her first Chalk Walk
"exciting."

"It feels really cool to win," she said. "This is
probably the first time I've ever gotten something like this for my artwork, so
this is really cool."

Though Klein can compete next year, it was the last
go round for Kaur and Hy.

"It feels really good, like the hard work does pay
off," Kaur said of winning the Chalk Walk.

"It's a fun experience to work with people, gather
ideas, and make something that means something to us," Kaur said of the event,
which she has taken part in four times, winning three blue ribbons.

"It feels really great, especially because it's our
last year, for me and Lovepreet," Hy said. "It's great to go out with a bang."

"And I think we worked really hard on it," Hy said,
laughing. "We were, like, about to throw up because of the heat, but we kept
going, so it was all worth it."

Lex Hy, left, would win a blue ribbon if they gave
awards to the artist wearing the most chalk. She was covered head to toe after
the four hours of the event. "I honestly just focus on what I'm drawing and
then I stand up and, you know, it is what it is," Hy said. She is pictured with
teammate Julie Klein. (Photos by Larry Austin)

Rain preceded the event, which ran from noon to 4
p.m. Saturday, but held off until after the awards were handed out. The heat
index was well over 90 for the entire event.

"We thought it was going to storm. It still might
today. The chalk was wet when we got here, so it made it kind of difficult to
get ready, but it was OK," Klein said.

Hy said to address this year's Chalk Walk theme of
"50 Years in Art," the team choose an artist who was active from 50 years ago
to today.

"We picked Botero, and he's still alive," Hy said.
"He made his figures really round and rotund, and he's considered a surrealist
because he plays with dimensions. We made the Chalk Walk scene at the Lewiston
50th Art Festival in celebration of that in Botero style."

Botero is the main focus of the piece, and is
pictured in a tent with his famous paintings.

"Every time we try to add something that represents
Grand Island, Lewiston or this area, so it kind of makes it unique," Kaur said.

Next to the Frontier House, the artists drew
DiCamillo Bakery, where each year the GIHS trio cap off the Chalk Walk event by
eating the bakery's giant ice cream cookie sandwich.

Teacher and Chalk Walk adviser Megan Gaiek said the
team practiced in the high school's back parking lot six or seven times this
summer. The extra effort paid off, according to response from patrons of the
Art Festival, who watched the students at work on the road during the festival.

"I think that people really saw the effort that we
put into it, because we didn't just pick one art piece to recreate or
something," Hy said. "We threw a bunch of things together, we talked it over,
and I think it really shows in what we did."

Kaur said she's going to miss the experience of Chalk
Walk. After taking a year off, Hy plans to go to Seattle to take acting
classes. Kaur will study architecture at the University at Buffalo in the fall.
Hy said she'll miss Mrs. Gaiek, and her teammates.

"I'll miss sassing Lovepreet. We have a good sass
game going on," Hy said.

"It's fun planning out everything, really putting
effort into our art," Hy said. "Even if we don't win, it's fine. It's all about
being a team. All that cheesy stuff, it's true."

"It was really nice to get to hang out with them and
get to work with them. They're really good artists," Klein said, saying she was
sad she wouldn't be able to extend the winning streak with them next year.

"They're really talented."

If Kaur and Hy return to cheer on their alma mater's
team at the 51st Lewiston Art Festival, they'll likely join graduate and fellow
Chalk Walk teammate Abhiraj Grewal, who was on hand Saturday. He was a member
of the GIHS Chalk Walk team for four years.

"I have to come out" to see the Chalk Walk he said,
saying he feels like part of the program. He attributed GIHS's longtime success
in the event to Gaiek, who "knows how to pick out the best people." He said
GIHS is bound to come first.